Canada Focused on Improving Defensively As Olympics Near

The senior Canadian men's national team is focused on improving defensively after defensive letups proved costly at the World Cup

Dec 2, 2021; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Memphis Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks (24) and Oklahoma City Thunder forward Luguentz Dort (5) during the second half at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports / Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

Jordi Fernandez has set his sights high.

Last year was a step in the right direction for the Canadian senior men’s national team. After years of disappointing finishes on the world stage, Canada finally broke through. A 127-118 victory over the United States at the FIBA World Cup allowed Canada to clinch a bronze medal and the most successful campaign in decades.

But Fernandez wants more.

Canada had been the No. 1 offense in the tournament and looked borderline unstoppable at times. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander kept Canada’s offense moving with RJ Barrett and Dillon Brooks carrying the load by his side.

And yet, Canada’s defense let it down.

Despite having a roster with Brooks and Luguentz Dort, two of the NBA’s best defensive players on it, Canada finished the tournament 11th in defense. As general manager Rowan Barrett acknowledged, that number needs to get better.

The goal now is to be a top-three defense, Fernandez said, as Canada opened its training camp this week in Toronto.

There’s no reason Canada can’t be.

“It's hard for me to look at guys like Dillon Brooks and Luguentz Dort and think that we don’t have defense in our country,” Rowan Barrett said. “Guys that are just hoping to maul you on the court. They don’t care whether they score or not. This is what we’re looking for.”

But if there was a problem for Canada last year it was relying too much on too few players, Fernandez said.

“One of the reasons why we went from being very good to struggle at the end, it was because I ran these players through the ground,” Fernandez said. “I played some of them too many minutes. And it's definitely on me. I have to be better.”

The addition of Jamal Murry who is healthy this year and expected to play in Paris should help Canada limit Gilgeous-Alexander’s offensive workload. It’ll hurt not having Andrew Wiggins around will hurt, but Canada should have more than enough talent to hold its own defensively this year.

“A lot of communication, limiting offensive rebounds, and just being a more aggressive team on the defensive end,” Brooks said. “Those are the three things I think we weren’t as good at.

It wasn’t as if Canada was bad defensively. There were good games, good halves, and plenty of good quarters. But defensive letups on a few occasions proved costly. A 29-point second quarter against Serbia ended Canada’s gold medal dreams and Canada’s bronze medal hopes nearly came to an end when the United States scored 33 points in the third quarter and nearly knocked off the Canadians.

That’ll be the focus for Canada over the next few weeks as the organization trims its training camp roster down and gets ready for the Olympics in a month’s time.

The offense will still be there. Canada has too many high-end scorers to not put up lopsided numbers, but improving at the other end is what Canada wants to focus on.

“We do have a lot of special defensive players,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “I think just putting that together and being connected as a unit. The sky's the limit for us on both ends of the floor.”